PORT TOWNSEND — Donations from Port Townsend residents to a farm have unfolded like the green leaves of cabbage, and come from as far away as Japan, said Richard Glaubman, who spearheaded a drive to help a Kent Valley group of Burundi and Somali refugees.
Donations have flowed in since a story about the refugees’ plight was published July 12 in the Peninsula Daily News.
One donation was a $100 check from a resident of Japan, Glaubman said, a teacher at Blue Heron Middle School, who believe the global connection with Japan was a result of the story having been published on the PDN’s website, peninsuladailynews.com.
Three years ago, 100 refugees — both from Barundi, a poor country that was torn apart by the genocide of the mid-1990s that spilled over from Rwanda, and from the Bantu tribe in Somalia — landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport not far from where they farm today.
Equipment stolen
But the group that farms the 10 acres in a heavy-industrial area were victimized by metro-suburban crime: All of their gardening equipment was stolen from a storage shed. Lost were a water pump, rototillers, tools and other gardening equipment and supplies.
Glaubman, after reading about their plight, went to Jim Minish, Port Townsend Honda and Marine owner on Sims Way at Mill Road, who donated a new $450 water pump at cost, which amounted to $150 donation.
Soon thereafter, money and tools began to appear.
The story was published in the PDN’s Jefferson County edition and online.
“The article really did do things,” Glaubman said.
Glaubman, who delivered the pump shortly after the story ran, said the refugees were elated.
A documentary of the delivery to the farm, where fields were drying up, shot by Seattle-area architectural photographer Francis Zera, can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/26944g9.
“The people were so excited,” Glaubman recalled.
“They were taking turns giving speeches with translation. They were looking at the worst time imagined now — everything is planted — and now there’s hope.
“Water, it’s life.”
Glaubman said the happy refugees gave him hope in return.
To plant more seeds, he said, “they were moving water by bucket from the stream,” their water source for the farm.
Refugees thank donors
The refugees said they wanted to thank the many Port Townsend residents who opened their hearts and their wallets.
Glaubman said he hopes to help organize a trip for them across the water.
“I don’t even know if they’ve even taken a ferry yet,” Glaubman said. “It’s sort of another world to them, but at the same time it is so close.”
Glaubman said they wanted to see the Saturday Port Townsend Farmer’s Market, and maybe even sell their produce there.
Outpouring of people
Minish said he was amazed at the outpouring of local support from people walking into his business, dropping cash donations of $20.
Minish and Glaubman said if donations continue to come in, they might consider either acquiring a used or new rototiller for the farmers.
Checks came in until about July 20, Minish said. A retired teacher also brought in hand tools and another donor dropped off a pair of expensive boots.
Glaubman said he was touched when he went out one morning to find a number of garden tools left in his front yard. He delivered about 30 shovels, hoes and rakes for the refugees to use.
They have grown cool-weather crops, including spinach, cilantro, green onions, lettuce, tomatoes and corn.
“They are just so excited that the people in the community really cared about them,” Glaubman said of Port Townsend.
Checks for donations to that effort can be made out to Port Townsend Honda, and the donation will go toward the pump.
On the check, note for “The Burundian Hope Project.”
The mailing address is Port Townsend Honda and Marine, 3059 W. Sims Way, Port Townsend, WA 98368.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
